Deuteronomy 17

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox, wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.	1 "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD, your God, from the herd or from the flock an animal with any serious defect; that would be an abomination to the LORD, your God.
2 When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant,	2 "If there is found among you, in any one of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the LORD, your God, and transgresses his covenant,
3 So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon. and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded:	3 by serving other gods, or by worshiping the sun or the moon or any of the host of the sky, against my command;
4 And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel:	4 and if, on being informed of it, you find by careful investigation that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has been committed in Israel:
5 Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned.	5 you shall bring the man (or woman) who has done the evil deed out to your city gates and stone him to death.
6 By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against him.	6 The testimony of two or three witnesses is required for putting a person to death; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee.	7 At the execution, the witnesses are to be the first to raise their hands against him; afterward all the people are to join in. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
8 If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose.	8 "If in your own community there is a case at issue which proves too complicated for you to decide, in a matter of bloodshed or of civil rights or of personal injury, you shall then go up to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses,
9 And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.	9 to the levitical priests or to the judge who is in office at that time. They shall study the case and then hand down to you their decision.
10 And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,	10 According to this decision that they give you in the place which the LORD chooses, you shall act, being careful to do exactly as they direct.
11 According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.	11 You shall carry out the directions they give you and the verdict they pronounce for you, without turning aside to the right or to the left from the decision they hand down to you.
12 But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel:	12 Any man who has the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest who officiates there in the ministry of the LORD, your God, or to the judge, shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
13 And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride.	13 And all the people, on hearing of it, shall fear, and never again be so insolent.
14 When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about:	14 "When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, and have occupied it and settled in it, should you then decide to have a king over you like all the surrounding nations,
15 Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.	15 you shall set that man over you as your king whom the LORD, your God, chooses. He whom you set over you as king must be your kinsman; a foreigner, who is no kin of yours, you may not set over you.
16 And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way.	16 But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire them, against the LORD'S warning that you must never go back that way again.
17 He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.	17 Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart be estranged, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.
18 But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe,	18 When he is enthroned in his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law made from the scroll that is in the custody of the levitical priests.
19 And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;	19 He shall keep it with him and read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the LORD, his God, and to heed and fulfill all the words of this law and these statutes.
20 And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.	20 Let him not become estranged from his countrymen through pride, nor turn aside to the right or to the left from these commandments. Then he and his descendants will enjoy a long reign in Israel.